Of Love and Chocolate.

I am not one to make New Year's Resolutions. I just try to do my best and don't hold myself to too high a standard. But this year, it seems as though my Resolutions have been made for me, per doctor's orders.

I paid a little visit to my doc the other day to have some "questionable knots" examined. Needless to say, I was very scared. I have held hands with the cancer monster before, creeping right up to the edge. Pre-cancerous cells are something that I have grown accustomed to in certain areas. But this was different. So close to my heart and lungs and hundreds of networking lymph nodes. I was very worried.

Thankfully, my doc says that it is not cancer. Not even close. (Whew!) But it is an annoying little problem. One that could make it difficult to recognize something alarming if it were to show up. So....... I have been ordered to cut my caffeine intake (not that it was very high to begin with) and keep up with a few important supplements. One being evening primrose oil, which makes me burp up the taste of a shrimp dinner.

Which brings me to chocolate. Yes, I know. How? Well, it all started on the trip to the Earth Fair market on the way home to pick up said supplements. The hubby and I mused at all the beautiful, organic (sometimes odd) products. Natural body care. Endless herbal remedies, supplements and aromatherapy oils. And an entire wall of fair trade chocolate.

It took me all of about five seconds to pick out which bar of chocolate I wanted to buy. (Please refrain from informing me that chocolate contains caffeine. I am indeed aware.) But how on earth could I pass up such a pretty package as the one above? A deep brown background with red and gold designs. It is sooooo much prettier in person!


Look at that! Whoever designed this wrapper deserves a reward.
And the chocolate inside? Well, the name says it all. It is, indeed, quite Divine.


*I realize this is a random post. And I do have lots of other stuff to share with you. Like the fact that I got a new laptop for Christmas!! So, I do not have it all figured out quite yet. And I need to transfer my pictures over so I can share some of those with you, too.
AND... if you haven't claimed some loot for yourself, please scroll down and do so now. I'm not gonna wait forever. Go, go, go.

Merry Christmas

Hello again, darlings. I want to thank all of you for your sweet comments and for sticking around when I decide to go missing for awhile. Can you believe that tomorrow is Christmas Eve? Wow. It seems like it was just a few months ago that we were wrapping gifts and looking forward to a new year. Do you remember last year, dolls? I do. We were all feeling the burden of 2009 and hoping with everything in us that 2010 was going to be a better year. And I do believe that it was for the most of us. Do you agree? But now we have another new year ahead of us, full of new hopes, fears and dreams. 2011.

In the spirit of giving, I told you that I would have some stuff to share with you all. If you are an artist or designer, you know how "stuff" just seems to accumulate around you. Creations and supplies. This and that. Good stuff and things that just need to be tossed. Well, I have some "good stuff" that I would like to quit looking at. It has been in my work room for long enough. So, my dear friends, I am offering it up to you....... for free. Here they are.

I played around with what is called "yantra" designs some time back. They are sort of like mandalas. Designs that are said to hold certain energy. Many people use them as focal points when meditating. I, honestly, just think they are pretty and the symmetrical design is very grounding. This yellow one is for "Expansion". You know, growth and stuff like that. It's 5"x 7".


This 5"x 5" silver and blue beauty is for "Nourishment". We could all use a little bit of that, couldn't we.

A nice little collection of beads. I have way too many beads in my life, and I never even use beads! I can't tell you how many there are or what they are made of, but there are a lot of them. Lots of pretty blues and greens. I must have been on a kick.

Three tiny wire wrapped rings that I made. They all fit my pinky perfectly, so I am warning you that they are small. However, they look quite nice strung up on a necklace. We are going to call these numbers one through three, left to right. #1 is light pink rose quartz. #2 is hematite. #3 is a mix of rose quartz and other pinkish beads.

Oh, yes. And then there is this bag. Just a casual shoulder bag made with cotton fabric. Pretty palm frond print on the outside, brown on the inside. Its a good summer time piece. Come on. Use your imagination. I know it is snowing outside, but try to think ahead.

So. Here's how this is going to work. We are going to do a "first come, first serve" sort of thing. Like I said before, you have to already be a follower of my blog. If there is something here that you would like to have, just leave a comment below telling me which one. Easy peasy. The first one to ask for an item gets that item. If you like more than one of these items, tell me what your first and second choices are in your comment. If someone has already claimed your first choice, but not your second, you get your second choice. See how this works? You can only win one item.

Good luck. I hope to be seeing a lot more of you lately. I am feeling better and more clear headed after that break. And I have tons of things to share with you.

Merry Christmas, dolls.
xoxo Miz. Jo xoxo

Hello Friends,

I apologize for not being around very much lately. I just spent a couple of hours trying to catch up on all your posts (which I am sure I did not succeed at). I know I don't technically owe anyone an explanation of my absence, but I consider all of you my friends and I want to fill you in on why I have been out of the loop.

What it all boils down to is information overload. Hours and hours spent on blogs and Etsy. I have been taking in way more information and inspiration than my little brain can process. I used to be a pretty creative person. But now, it seems, all of my so called ideas are overlapping with what I see on the internet. I have been trying to draw and paint and work on some new designs, but I am confused at what is truly mine and what is a conglomerate of what I have already seen. When given the right environment I happen to have a very unique and distinctive artistic style. But lately, when I sit down to draw, my head is filled with all the millions of images that I take in on a regular basis.

I really want to open another Etsy store just for my painting and drawing. But I want to be true to self. I don't want to paint what I already know will sell. I want to paint what is really me. So this, my dears, is what I am working on. Purging my mind of all the excess. Trying to get back in touch with my own ideas. Inspiration is fantastic! and blogging is a fabulous way of feeding the need for it. But right now, especially during the Christmas season, I have got to decompress.

I am still around, and I have no plans of leaving the blog scene for good. I love you all and feel so lucky to share in your lives and thoughts and inspirations. And keep your eyes open because I have some sharing to do with you all. Not only am I cleaning out my head, but I am cleaning out a lot of other stuff, too. There will be some things up for grabs soon, but only to my blog followers. So, if you stop by on the regular, but are not a formal follower, you may want to add me to your list. Just saying. ;)

Love and Lots of Sparkle,
Miz.Jo

*from Bits of Truth.